Glowworm BBU pilot light

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Hi,

We moved into out house about 18 months ago and it's Glowworm revival 2 BBU.

The previous owner mentioned that the boiler pilot light occasionally blew out due to wind down the chimney. We relit the boiler a few times over several months. I knew it was due for it's annual service and had it all serviced and it passed the various checks.

Then recently I noticed the rads in the house were cold and checked the boiler. I saw the pilot light was out and tried relighting it by moving the gas valve to PILOT/IGNITION and holding it in while i depressed the Piezo ignition button. The pilot lit but instead of a blue flame I saw a yellow flame and even after holding the gas valve for 30 seconds with the pilot light going as soon as I let it go the boiler cut out.

I waited 3 minutes between several attempts to get it to light but then noticed on about the 3rd attempt the flame flicked from an upright yellow flame to a blue flame and this time the pilot stayed alight and I the boiler fired up as soon as I moved the gas valve over to MAIN BURNER but then after approx 30 seconds the boiler cut out again.

The next day I could the heating engineer and he lit the boiler first time and couldn't see an issue.

What I've noticed is when the pilot light is yellow the flame doesn't touch what I think is the end of the thermocouple, as soon as it goes blue it touches the thermocouple and the boiler will light.

Last night the boiler went out and I tried a couple of times to get it to light and then the pilot light wouldn't even light and I left it off. I've just come home and the pilot light lit the first time with a blue flame.

There seems to be some intermittent fault and the issue is it doesn't show when the heating engineer is here but is a lot more frequent now. I'm thinking there is some kind of valve that is sticking causing the yellow flame and the the reason the boiler is going out is the pilot light cutting out and not blowing out as the previous owners mentioned.

Is this a known issue with the type of boiler?

Thanks
Martin
 
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A common problem and no parts req to fix it.
A proper service will cure the problem.
 
The boiler was serviced about a month ago by a Gasafe engineer and was given a certificate. I saw the Engineer strip the boiler out, check gas pressures e.t.c so it wasn't just a quick look over.

Would this fault of been picked up on a service?
 
The fault should not occur so soon after a service if done correctly. The pilot is part of the service procedure. Those boilers are usually bullet proof if looked after. Your man needs to do it again.
 
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The fault should not occur so soon after a service if done correctly. The pilot is part of the service procedure. Those boilers are usually bullet proof if looked after. Your man needs to do it again.

+1
Also any engineer worth his salt will renew the TC as part of the service on a BBU, it's not a requirement but definitely good practice.
 

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